January 14, 2009

• Ticketed reception, free lecture precedes exhibition

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Photographic works from Leonard Nimoy's series "The Full Body Project" will be on exhibition Feb. 7-28, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Visual Arts Gallery, 900 13th St. S., Birmingham. Admission is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and 1-5 p.m. Saturday. The gallery is closed Sundays and holidays. Call 205-934-0815 for more information.

Nimoy is the UAB 2009 John Morton Visiting Artist. The exhibition of his works coincides with his visit to the UAB campus. On Friday, Feb. 6, Nimoy will lecture at 7:30 p.m. at UAB's Volker Hall, 1670 University Blvd., Birmingham. The lecture is free and open to the public. Prior to the lecture, at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, a reception for Nimoy will be held at the gallery. Tickets to the reception are $100. For reservations, or for more information, contact the UAB Department of Art and Art History at 205-934-4941.

Nimoy, well known for his role as Mr. Spock on the television/film series "Star Trek," first experienced the magic of making photographic images as a teenager in the early 1940s. The family camera, a bellows Kodak Autographic, is a cherished part of his collection. His darkroom was the family bathroom in their small Boston apartment; his subjects, family and friends.

Nimoy's "The Full Body Project" series features works that are an examination of concepts of female beauty and sexuality. The idea for the series came after a woman asked Nimoy if he might be interested in photographing her larger stature, and the idea intrigued him enough to pursue. The images feature members of a burlesque troupe called the Fat Bottom Revue. Many of the large, black and white photographs are nudes, with references to well-known images and paintings of the 20th century.